Every Hippo Mat™ begins with human ideas, research and creative decision-making. Our collection is developed by the Hippo Mat™ creative team and selected guest illustrators, with modern digital and AI-assisted tools supporting parts of the process where appropriate. Real-world places, landmarks, roads and local details may be simplified, stylised or thoughtfully interpreted to create a clear, playful world for children to explore. Products created through our Guest Illustrator Programme are clearly marked with the Guest Illustrated badge. Learn more about the people, research and creative process behind our designs in How Each Hippo Mat™ Is Created.
Your order will be dipatched between 1 October and 7th December 2027.
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What happens when learning meets fun? Magic!
Introducing the Olomouc Hippo Mat™ — an Olomouc play mat and road play mat for toy cars, designed to spark imagination, storytelling, and hours of screen-free fun.
Designed to celebrate the historic character of Olomouc through imaginative, screen-free play.
With wide, drivable roads made for toy cars and 20+ landmarks, places, and local details from Olomouc, every play session becomes a new adventure. Children can invent routes, create missions, and act out real-world moments — from city-square errands and fountain stop-offs to tram journeys, cathedral visits, and zoo adventures.
A road play mat for toy cars that celebrates Olomouc.
The Olomouc Hippo Mat™ road play mat features a playful, map-style layout inspired by the city, including highlights such as:
As children explore routes and make up stories with their toy cars, they naturally practise:
This Olomouc play mat is made with a soft microfiber velvet surface that feels smooth under hands and knees, making it ideal for floor play. A non-slip latex backing helps keep the road play mat in place when play gets energetic, while also helping to protect floors and reduce noise.
Read our guide to the landmarks included on the Olomouc play mat.
Designed for imaginative everyday play, and made to feel thoughtful and gift-worthy from the moment it arrives.
Your order will be dispatched between 1 October and 7th December 2027.
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Every Hippo Mat™ begins with real places, community ideas and human creative direction. Modern digital and AI-assisted tools help us explore and refine possibilities, while people choose the landmarks, guide the layout, check the details and approve the final design.
The result is a carefully considered play mat made for imaginative play, vivid printing and a premium finished feel.
Turns playtime into learning time. Children can build stories, explore places, practise direction and develop real-world awareness through imaginative, screen-free play.
A thoughtful gift for little explorers. Beautifully designed and full of play value, a Hippo Mat™ is a memorable present for birthdays, Christmas and special occasions.
The more eligible mats you add, the more your pre-order includes. Only valid until April 30th 2027:
Become eligible for:
Everything you receive with 1 mat, plus:
Everything you receive with 2 mats, plus:
Some customer review photos may show previous Hippo Mat™ designs from earlier product runs. These were much-loved original designs, and selected artwork details have been gently blurred as our new relaunch designs will be updated. Every new Hippo Mat™ will continue to offer the same premium feel, detailed artwork, high-quality printing and vivid colours that make Hippo Mat™ special.
Each Hippo Mat™ is created through a careful process that includes research, creative direction, illustration work, layout planning and quality checks.
For location-based mats, the aim is to create a design that feels connected to a real place, while still being playful, easy to use and suitable for children’s everyday imaginative play.
You can read more on our How Each Hippo Mat™ Is Created page.
Yes. Hippo Mat™ location designs are inspired by real towns, cities, regions, countries, landmarks and local features.
Each mat is designed to feel recognisable and meaningful, while still being playful, child-friendly and suitable for everyday imaginative play. You can read more about our process on the How Each Hippo Mat™ Is Created page.
Yes. If there is a landmark, road, park, building, local feature or favourite place you would love to see included in a future Hippo Mat™ design, you can send us your suggestion.
You can also suggest new towns, cities, regions, countries or more imaginative ideas through our Request a Hippo Mat™ page.
Yes. If there are nearby or related Hippo Mat™ designs, you’ll usually find them in the Explore Nearby Hippo Mat™ Locations section in the product description further up this page.
You can also browse the full collection on our Hippo Mat™ Locations page, or suggest another town, city, region, country, landmark or creative idea through our Request a Hippo Mat™ page.
Yes. Hippo Mat™ is being built as a wider collection of play mats inspired by towns, cities, regions, countries, landmarks and imaginative themes.
You can browse the full collection on our Hippo Mat™ Locations page. If there is another place, landmark or creative idea you would love to see next, you can suggest it through our Request a Hippo Mat™ page.
Hippo Mat™ is designed for children aged 12 months and over, with most everyday play value for children who enjoy toy cars, figures, buildings, routes, stories and small-world play.
Younger children can enjoy the colours, roads and simple features, while older children can use the mat for more detailed stories, journeys and imaginative play. For more guidance, you can read our blog post on How to Choose the Best Play Mat for Your Child.
Yes. We design wide, drivable roads first, then build the rest of the map around them so cars can travel smoothly without clutter.
Generic play mats are usually made to be one-size-fits-all. Hippo Mat™ is different. Our mats are inspired by real locations and created to combine premium design, imaginative play, and local meaning in one product. That means clearer layouts for toy cars, more recognisable features, and a play experience that feels richer, more personal, and more memorable.
You can learn more about our approach on the How Each Hippo Mat™ Is Created page.
Yes. Hippo Mat™ is designed to be a thoughtful, premium gift for children who enjoy imaginative play, toy cars, local places, maps, buildings, stories or small-world play.
It can also make a meaningful keepsake when the design is connected to a home town, favourite place, family area, school location, holiday memory or somewhere with personal significance.
You can also visit our Reviews page to see feedback from Hippo Mat™ customers.
We are happy to hear from nurseries, schools, preschools, early years settings and organisations interested in using Hippo Mat™ for play and learning.
Please visit our Schools page for more information, or contact us to discuss what you need.
This mat is 100cm × 100cm. The embroidered stitching edges are approximately 1cm thick, and the main surface is around 0.6cm thick.
When shipped to you, it is rolled up into 114cm × 10.2cm cylinder tube.
Hippo Mat™ is a premium printed play mat made for everyday play, featuring a microfiber velvet surface with a non-slip latex backing. It’s designed to be giftable, durable, and easy to use on the floor at home.
Yes. Hippo Mat™ is suitable for children aged 12 months+ and CE/UKCA marked for added reassurance. Each mat is made for everyday children’s play, with simple, clear artwork, a soft microfibre velvet surface and a non-slip latex backing to help reduce movement during play. As with any children’s play product, young children should always be supervised, and all packaging should be kept away from children.
Yes — for everyday mess, you can wipe the surface clean using warm soapy water.
It is not advised to use harsh chemicals or machine wash.
On most surfaces it stays put during normal play. If you have very smooth floors, a simple non-slip underlay (or rug gripper) helps keep it perfectly stable.
The more eligible mats you add, the more your pre-order includes. Only valid until April 30th 2027:
Become eligible for:
Everything above, plus:
Everything above, plus:
Hippo Mat™ is currently in its pre-order period. This means your order is reserved now, but it will not be dispatched straight away.
Pre-orders will be dispatched in batches between 1st October and 7th December 2027. Your tracking number will be emailed to you once your order has left us.
After the pre-order period has ended, orders will usually be dispatched within 2 working days.
Estimated delivery times begin after dispatch.
| Destination | Estimated delivery after dispatch |
|---|---|
| Austria | 5–8 working days |
| Belgium | 6–9 working days |
| Czech Republic | 7–10 working days |
| Denmark | 7–10 working days |
| England | 2–4 working days |
| France | 6–9 working days |
| Germany | 5–8 working days |
| Greece | 10–13 working days |
| Ireland | 3–6 working days |
| Isle of Man | 3–5 working days |
| Italy | 4–6 working days |
| Netherlands | 3–6 working days |
| Northern Ireland | 3–5 working days |
| Poland | 8–11 working days |
| Scotland | 2–4 working days |
| Spain | 5–8 working days |
| Sweden | 6–9 working days |
| Switzerland | 7–10 working days |
| Wales | 3–5 working days |
Delivery times are estimates and may vary during busy periods, customs processing, remote-area delivery, or local carrier delays.
You can return eligible items in line with our returns policy.
Please check our Shipping & Returns information for the latest details on returns, delivery timings and any conditions that apply.
Hippo Mat™ designs are created by talented humans working alongside AI, using modern creative tools to build original illustrated artwork. We use AI carefully to help avoid relying on copyrighted third-party images, which supports a fairer, more affordable product. Real-world places may be simplified, stylised, or interpreted to create a clear, playful layout for children. The artwork shown on this product page is the artwork intended for print.
Our focus is on creating premium, playful and recognisable designs, with human creative direction, review and quality checks throughout. You can read more on the How Each Hippo Mat™ Is Created page.
Yes. Every Hippo Mat™ helps support our wider mission to encourage play, learning and imagination for children.
Through Reg’s Pledge, our aim is for every mat to help fund play and learning for children. Early supporters may also be eligible to join the Hippo Mat™ Hall of Fame as part of the relaunch story.
We’d love to hear from you! Please contact us on this page.
For school, nursery or organisation enquiries, please visit our Schools page. For press or media enquiries, visit our Press page. If you would like to suggest a future location or idea, you can use our Request a Hippo Mat™ page.
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